


Good Enough

by stellarparallax



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Office, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-25
Updated: 2017-04-25
Packaged: 2018-10-23 20:31:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10726680
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stellarparallax/pseuds/stellarparallax
Summary: As a department head of Amestris Petrochemical, Roy has had to deal with his fair share of problems both from his subordinates and his superiors, but nothing has caused him as much difficulty as having to decide whether or not to transfer Riza to a sister company.Pros: Riza would get a better position and pay raise. She would also be working in an industry that she has wanted to enter since her parents died.Con: Riza wouldn't be his personal assistant anymore.





	Good Enough

Roy’s hair was gaining height from the number of times he had run his fingers through his hair out of frustration. He groaned as he sank deeper into his chair and stared at the haphazard mess of folders strewn on his desk. A passport-sized headshot peaked out of the top right corner of one of the folders. He smiled at it as if he were looking at his blonde personal assistant in the flesh.

  
If it came down to ability and work ethic alone, Riza would definitely have been his first-choice pick for the high-ranking position at their sister company. Tucker Biologics had just started to expand their size and was looking for people to fill up positions. Their parent company had insisted that Amestris Petrochemical transfer one of their staff from each department to ensure that the expansion goes smoothly. All of the departments but Roy’s had complied with this order.

  
“I don’t want to lose my queen,” he mumbled.

  
“You want to buy tickets for Queen?” he heard someone say.

  
Roy looked up and saw his long-time best friend and fellow department head, Maes Hughes, standing at the doorway to his office.

 

“I’m sorry, am I interrupting? I just came to ask why you weren’t at the cafeteria during lunch.”

  
“No, not at all. In fact, you’re just the person I want to talk to.”

  
Maes’s eyes lit up as he shut the door before crossing the room and taking one of the seats in front of Roy. It worried him that Roy had to deal with something so troubling that he lost his appetite, but he was more than willing to listen to what his friend had to say. He eagerly sat and waited for Roy to start talking.

  
“Say you have three candidates for a promotion and there’s one outstanding candidate that you know would definitely thrive wherever she, I mean, they-…”

  
“You mean, Riza?”

  
“Let me finish,” Roy glared at Maes for interjecting, but calmed down and resumed speaking, “At the same time, they are probably the best person that you’ve ever had the pleasure of working with and you’re not willing to let them get another job because you know that no replacement could ever deal with how difficult you are as well as they can.”

  
Maes didn’t even need to think about what Roy had just said to know what he would respond with.

  
“Cut the crap, Roy. You were voted ‘Employee of the Year’. You’re hardly the most difficult person to work with. If you don’t want to recommend Riza for the transfer, don’t. Just don’t claim that your reasons are work-related when they are most definitely not.”

  
Roy clicked his tongue in defiance. He liked Maes, but he never liked admitting that he was always right.

  
“She deserves it though. She’s been working so hard at her Master’s degree in Biological Sciences. She always wanted to work in medical research and this job would be the perfect opportunity for her to get into the industry.”

  
“Then, you already know what to do,” Maes replied flatly, “I would love to stay and continue this conversation, but I have piles of paperwork to go through in my office. Excuse me.”

  
As Roy watched Maes leave his office, he knew that he was sure of one thing – he was going to find a way to convince Riza that staying as his personal assistant was the right way to go.

 

* * *

 

 

Three evenly spaced knocks were planted on his office door. He already knew who it was, but he hesitated to invite her into the room. His ears felt like they were filled with water. Everything around him looked murky.

  
“Mr Mustang, it’s me.”

  
“Oh, come in, Riza.”

  
Riza opened the door and entered the room. Closing the door behind her, she stood barely far enough from it so that someone else entering after wouldn’t hit her with the door. She waited for her next instruction.

  
“Sit, sit,” Roy gestured at the chairs in front of him.

  
Riza took careful and calculated strides towards him, locking her hips from swaying and barely making a sound against the floor tiles. Even the act of lowering herself into the seat was done precisely without exerting any more energy than was required.

  
“Riza, I called you in here to ask you about your experience working at Amestris Petrochemical… s-s-since you’ve been here for a little over a year. Do you like it here?”

  
“Yes,” she nodded, as if her reply didn’t already indicate her answer.

  
“Ah, good. How is your Master’s coming along?”

  
“I’m five months from completion, thank you for asking.”

  
Roy was looking at Riza but he averted his gaze from her eyes. Her eyes were always so clear and alert that he was afraid that he may blurt out every stupid thought that passed through his mind if he looked at them long enough. He wasn’t the only one who felt that way about her. Jean and Maria from their department have also commented that Riza had a way of making them feel like divulging all their secrets to her. That quality – was it intuition or telepathy? Either way, trying to trick her into saying that she wanted to stay in his department on her own volition wasn’t going to be an easy task.

  
“Roy?”

  
His head snapped up and he immediately made eye contact with her.

  
“Pardon my discourtesy, Sir. I addressed you as ‘Mr Mustang’ about five times and I didn’t seem to get your attention. Is there something wrong?”

  
“Ah, no, don’t worry about it,” he felt beads of perspiration roll down his neck, “I was just checking that you were comfortable with the offices. After all, this wasn’t your career choice.”

  
“Nevertheless, I can’t complain. I’ve been given more benefits and opportunities than others,” her eyes narrowed with suspicion, “This wouldn’t have anything to do with the staff transfers to Tucker Biologics, would it?”

  
“How did you…,” he tried to catch himself but he was too late. He may as well be honest with her. He sighed and looked down before finally saying, “I’m trying to decide whether I should recommend you for the transfer.”

  
“Is my performance not satisfactory?” for once, Riza sounded something other than completely unemotional.

  
“No, it’s not that. I just thought it would be good for you since you’re pursuing a career in that industry, but at the same time I value you too much as a colleague to let you go.”

  
“I see. Well, I trust that you’ll make the right decision for all parties,” she stood up and brushed off the front of her skirt, “If I don’t get picked, I know that it’s simply because you thought I wasn’t good enough for the job.”

  
He already knew that she made an amazing employee, but she never ceased to amaze him with her professionalism and maturity. That only made his inclination to restrict her career growth more difficult to justify.

  
“Riza, I cannot think of any job in existence that you wouldn’t be absolutely amazing at. If I don’t pick you, it would be because I thought the job wasn’t good enough for you.”

  
His response had more softness and honesty than he intended to offer her, but he ignored the urge to take it back as soon as he saw her smile. He watched as her lips parted, then came back together.

  
“School teacher,” she said finally.

  
“What?”

  
“I wouldn’t be a good school teacher.”

  
Roy let out a hearty laugh that almost made him choke on nothing, “I respectfully disagree.”

  
That elicited a wider smile from her.

  
“If there isn’t anything else you wish to discuss with me, I’ll be at my cubicle outside.”

  
She bowed ever so slightly before turning around and walking out the door. He watched her leave, anticipating that he’d have to do the exact same thing after his recommendation to transfer her to Tucker Biologics gets approved by his boss, Bradley. He cursed his selfishness under his breath.

  
Suddenly, there was a knock on his door. It wasn’t typical of Riza to come back into his office because she left something or forgot to raise a point to him. Besides, the knocks didn’t have the same precision that Riza’s did. It couldn’t have been her.

 

“Come in?” he called out.

  
The door swung open with a force that could knock over an empty bookcase. Roy raised an eyebrow at the slim-figured gentleman with long black hair that had been tied into a tight ponytail. It was his second assistant.

  
Envy.

  
“What’s this I hear about a transfer, a higher position and a pay raise?” he declared with a grin that sent a chill up Roy’s spine, “A little birdy told me that someone incompetent was being seriously considered for the recommendation!”

  
Envy must have been pressing his ear up against his door again. He had been caught multiple times, but it was never during any highly confidential discussions, so Roy never saw a reason to flag this behaviour to his superiors. He was starting to wonder if he should have anyway.

  
“Her name is Riza, and she’s hardly incompetent.”

  
“Anyone who isn’t me is incompetent,” his eyes flashed as he said it, but his expression quickly softened before he added, “Except you, of course.”

  
“Cute,” Roy said as he swiveled his chair towards the shelves behind him to pull a folder, “Leave, please.”

  
“Hang on, hear me out. I know that you’re simply enchanted by your favourite, but perhaps I can convince you to recommend me instead,” for a second he looked like he was batting his eyelids, “After all, how can a woman possibly take on such a difficult task? Surely, she’ll leave the work force soon enough to bear offspring.”

  
“I don’t believe in favouritism. I will choose whoever I think is best suited for the position. If that person happens to be Riza, so be it,” he opted not to even grace Envy’s sexist remark with a response.

  
“Ah, I completely agree. As you know, I am a proponent for strong independent woman in the work force,” he grinned, “However, perhaps my uncle can convince you otherwise.”

  
“Are you threatening me?” he tried his best not to let his emotions guide his actions, but it was difficult to keep a lid on his anger.

  
The corners of Envy’s lips twitched as soon as he heard Roy say it. He grinned, “Don’t think of it as that. Think of it as a friendly suggestion. I suggest you recommend me because otherwise, your Golden Girl may be fired with a poor testimonial before the transfer is complete.”

  
Roy clenched his jaw, trying desperately to keep a hold on his rage. It was one thing to threaten someone like him. He had options, connections. Riza had none of that. When she first joined the company, she was about halfway through her Master’s programme. If she lost her job, she wouldn’t be able to pay off her student loans. She lived alone and had no one to go to for help. She didn’t even have any living relative that she knew of. It was beyond low to sabotage someone like her.

  
“Why are you doing this, Envy?” he seethed, “You said yourself during your interview that you only applied to work here to get your wealthy parents off your back. You have never shown any interest or promise in medical research and money is not an issue to you.”

  
“It’s simple, really. I just don’t want someone else to have it.”

 

* * *

 

 

“Roy?”

 

“Come in, Maes.”

  
Maes burst into the office, almost dropping his stack of papers in the process. He rushed over to Roy’s desk and dumped them in front of him. The papers must have been the documents that Maes had managed to procure from Tucker Biologics’s records. He had asked him to look into the company so that he can decide further whether or not it was somewhere Riza would want to be. He would find a way to deal with Bradley and Envy, but he sure as hell wasn’t going to let such an opportunity to shove her into the job of her dreams pass him by so easily.

  
“Look at this. Tucker’s finances have been slightly off for the past few years but our parent company has never paid much attention to these discrepancies because of the high profits that Tucker generates. However, look at this,” he rifled through the papers until he found the document he was looking for.

  
“A claim form?”

  
“Yes, but look at the amount and the justification for the claim. They claimed that all this money was spent on the new cell culture vessels. I contacted their supplier. The actual prices are not even a tenth of what they are claiming for.”

  
“This is bad. If I transfer Riza there, the company could get shut down any minute. There isn’t any doubt that Bradley would report it to our parent company as soon as he finds out. He’s been trying to increase our budget for the last decade,” he felt his heart sink to his stomach.

  
“Exactly, so transfer Envy.”

  
Roy tried to blink back his astonishment. He couldn’t believe that Maes would suggest something as vindictive as that.

  
“Maes, are you actually encouraging me to sabotage my second assistant’s career?”

  
“Oh please, there’s no doubt that he’d get a new job almost as soon as he loses that one. Besides, are you going to take him threatening Riza’s employment lightly?”

  
“You’re right,” Roy muttered, “I’ll go through with the recommendation then once he has signed the contract, I’ll show these reports to Bradley.”

 

* * *

 

 

“Riza, after many hours of deliberation, I have finally made my decision. Unfortunately, I will not be recommending you for the transfer to Tucker Biologics,” Roy looked at his feet as he said it.

  
“I don’t want you to transfer Envy.”

  
“Miss Hawkeye, with all due respect, it really isn’t your place to make my decisions for me,” Roy blurted out nervously.

  
“I know Tucker has been embezzling money. Don’t do this.”

  
“What? How did you know that?”

  
“Mr Hughes told me.”

  
“Traitor,” Roy said under his breath. That must have been why Maes told him to recommend Envy. He wanted to push him to make the right decision regardless of his friend’s suggestion. Unfortunately, he still didn’t know what that right decision was.

  
“I’m glad he told me because I think that you’re making a big mistake. Report the discrepancies to Bradley immediately and let the chips fall where they may.”

  
Roy was stunned by this. He always thought of Riza as someone who would go along with any decision he made unquestioningly. Turns out, she had more of a moral backbone than he gave her credit for. However, he wasn’t about to let up on his desire for revenge.

  
“But he threatened your career. He did it out of spite, not because he really wanted that job.”

  
“I don’t care. If you do this to him, you’re just as bad as he is,” she was shouting, “And if you do this, I will tender my resignation immediately.”

  
His was already looking at his own feet in shame. Suddenly, he was overcome with desire to look into her eyes. As he raised his head, he saw her legs standing firm, but her fists by her sides trembling. The parts of her neck that weren’t obscured by her shirt and blazer were slightly flushed.

  
When he finally reached her eyes, he saw tears pooling in them.

  
“You’re right, Riza. I’m sorry.”

  
“You better be, “she replied softly before turning away and leaving his office.

  
This time, her walk wasn’t as controlled as before. Her shoulders were hunched forward and shaking, and her face was in her hands. At her last step out of the room, he saw her left leg falter slightly.

 

* * *

 

 

It was the day of the company picnic outing. There were blankets spread out on the grass and children tracking dirt all over them. Between the bodies, running and laughing, he saw Bradley with his family. Selim had grown up to look quite handsome. The last time he remember seeing him, he was still a messy toddler wetting his pants. Bradley must have felt him watching them because he turned around and waved at him. He waved back.

  
At twenty-eight, he was one of the youngest employees at Amestris Petrochemical. It was understandable that he was one of the only people who hadn’t started a family yet, but it didn’t make him want it any less. His mother didn’t have much longer to live. Perhaps he only wanted a family out of selfishness and fear of being alone, but he still wanted it ardently.

  
As he looked around and the rest of his colleagues and their families, he finally laid his eyes on a blonde in a loose T-shirt and jeans running around with her dog. The twenty-five year-old had absolutely no one in the world, but she looked completely content in the company of her canine companion. His gaze softened.

  
“When are you going to ask her out?”

  
“Ask who out?” he didn’t need to take his eyes off her to know that it was Maes speaking to him.

  
“Hayate,” he rolled his eyes and sighed, “Riza, of course.”

  
“I’m sure I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  
“Oh come on, I see the way you look at her. Are you afraid that it may jeopardise your career?”

  
“Papa, papa!”

  
The two men turned to look at Elicia who was tugging at Maes’s sleeve. Her pigtails were longer than Roy remembered seeing it last, and there were small twigs stuck in her hair. She must have been climbing trees again. She started to pout, which meant that whatever Maes was doing before was irrelevant. He would have to play with her.

  
“No,” Roy whispered as soon as he knew that Maes was out of hearing range, “I’m afraid that it may jeopardise hers.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! Thanks for reading this!
> 
> I'm new to AO3 and this is my first fanfic here. I would love to read comments and feedback, if you have any to give me. Also, feel free to let me know if there are any corrections I should make.


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